Communities in Transition

2018 Health Symposium: Communities in Transition

Health Implications Workshop and Panel Presentation

In April 2018, CU Denver's College of Architecture and Planning held a two-day event to address health implications in our neighborhoods, cities, and communities. A call-to-action was issued that began a partnership that would become the Colorado Healthy Places Collaborative — a network of nearly two dozen statewide and regional organizations and associations committed to working together to create healthier places in Colorado.

A workshop was held at the College for the discussion on the health implications of displacement and relocation. Attention was given to gentrification and megaprojects which uproot people from their communities. That theme was continued at a program with a panel of health and planning experts from New York City, Washington, DC, and California.

The speakers addressed long-term health impacts — physical, mental, social, emotional, and spiritual — of being displaced from community. A perspective was shared that healthy development does not have to result in displacement and the harm which occurs from being uprooted.

Key Themes

Displacement as a Health Issue

The symposium reframed displacement — from gentrification, urban redevelopment, and megaprojects — as a significant public health issue. Decades of research show that involuntary relocation causes measurable harm across physical, mental, and social dimensions of health. When people lose their homes, their neighborhoods, their social networks, and their sense of place, the consequences extend far beyond inconvenience.

Planners and designers who understand displacement as a health issue bring a fundamentally different set of questions to their work. They ask not only whether a development project will be economically successful or aesthetically coherent, but also whether it will strengthen or undermine the health of the people who already live there.

Healthy Development Without Displacement

A consistent message from presenters was that investment, revitalization, and healthy development can coexist with community stability. Anti-displacement strategies — including community land trusts, affordable housing preservation, community benefit agreements, and inclusive planning processes — are practical tools that planners and designers can integrate into their work.

The symposium provided a platform for sharing models of equitable development from cities across the country that have successfully improved built environment quality without pushing out existing residents.

Outcome: Colorado Healthy Places Collaborative

One of the most significant outcomes of the 2018 symposium was the formation of the Colorado Healthy Places Collaborative. The call-to-action issued at the event catalyzed a sustained partnership between HDI and nearly two dozen statewide organizations committed to creating healthier communities.

The Collaborative became the distribution network for the GuideBox to Healthy Places and continues to convene practitioners, educators, and advocates working at the intersection of health, equity, and community design throughout Colorado.